Swing to Crib Transition

I've been asked about our swing to crib naptime transition. I wish I could say more, but here's what I got.

First of all, I really think this was all just good timing. Lilleigh was totally ready for the transition. Around 2 months, I tried to transition her from her swing to crib, and that was a major failure. I had it set in my mind for some reason that she needed to be in her crib, that I was setting myself up for doom if I let her nap in her swing. There was really no logic in that thought. Finally I posted a plea for help on the transition on Facebook and a mom friend commented that she let her babies nap in their swings too and eventually they transitioned themselves to their cribs for nap. She said it was just no big deal. So since Lilleigh was napping well, I gave it a rest.

It was silly for me to even try at two months because for the first three months of her life Lilleigh would take three hour long naps in her swing. Sometimes four. No, I'm not kidding. But somewhere just after three months, she started waking up from swing naps at around two hours... sometimes even one hour. That mom was right! Still in that past month I had experimented with getting her to nap in her crib, and best case scenario would be 45 minutes... worst case, 20. Ugh. But for her first morning nap of the day, sometimes she could sleep for as long as an hour in her crib - I think because it followed a full night of sleep, a feeding, and only brief activity. So for awhile I just tried to be intentional about having her take this first nap of the day in her crib. No bouncy chair. No outing. Just naptime. In her crib.

Then I began experimenting more with her taking a daytime nap in her crib. And sometimes it would fail, meaning half an hour or less. This actually probably happened a handful of times. I didn't sweat it. I just put her in her swing for the next nap of the day so that she would at least get one good lengthy nap - and I would get one good length of time to get stuff done!

Eventually she got better at napping in her crib and to the point that her naps in her crib were just as long as her dwindling naptimes in her swing. So I've actually gotten to the point that I no longer use her swing. Just her crib.

I don't want her to be too dependent on her crib though, simply because I want her to be able to sleep in her stroller, car seat, etc when we are out and about. There's not a great way to ensure this except being really active. I'd say I'm moderately active. We definitely go out, have baby playdates, go to lunch with mommy's friends, run errands, etc, but I'm intentional about not overbooking us. We have one, maybe two, outings a day.

Speaking of sleep, something else noteworthy - Hubby finally got curtain rods hung up in the nursery for me. And Lilleigh actually slept until 7 AM this morning! A nice break for Mom, since Lil had been getting up at 5:45 or 6. I think the curtains block out a little more light! Nice.

Comments

  1. You sound like me. I was so stressed about moving her to her crib, but it just naturally happened for her. I'm learning to trust my instincts and listen to A to decide what's best for our family.

    You are brave with going out everyday! One to two outings a WEEK is enough for me!

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  2. Great tips and advice. I'm taking notes!! ;)

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